Forgive and Forget
by Aiiriika
Summary: After a meeting with the other house ghosts, Nearly Headless Nick was finally able to ask the Bloody Baron on why he is known as such. Soon, the Bloody Baron tells his story on his relationship with the Grey Lady, with her telling the same thing to the Fat Friar.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters or the concept of Harry Potter, they all belong to J.K. Rowling.

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Afternoon in Hogwarts, all the students were walking to and from class, while some were casually lounging in their common rooms, the library, the halls, or the great halls. While the students stay in their classroom learning and some are where they need to be, the professors were all in their respective classes, teaching their own students. It seems that everyone was busy doing what they need to do, however, there are residents in the castle that have nothing to do but float about, and they are the ghost of Hogwarts. There are various ghost that can be found in the school, like Moaning Myrtle of the girls' lavatory, Professor Binn, the Black Knight, and many more. The most notable ghost are the house ghost, each representative of the house they were once in. Nearly Headless Nick, The Fat Friar, The Grey Lady, and The Bloody Baron. All four of them create the ghost council of the school, and if anything or anyone new came into the school, in ghostly terms, they were the first to know.

"And that is all for today… " Sir Nicholas said. All four house ghost were in an abandoned tower, conducting a meeting on current events. All were present and listening intently as they formed a circle around each other. The friar was in between Nicholas and the Grey Lady, the Grey Lady was in between the Friar and the Baron, the Baron was in between the Lady and Nicholas, and lastly, Nicholas was in between the Baron and the Friar.

"Is there anything more that we need to discuss?" The Baron asked his fellow ghost. Everyone became silent but then the Friar shyly raised his hand. All looked at him for what he has to say.

"I was wondering if we can talk over letting Peeves join the Feast in the great hall" The other three ghost groaned at the Friar's request. They knew he would bring this but as they've always said before…

"Friar we talked about this, Peeves cannot partake in any of our feast because of his rude and prankish behavior…" Nicholas explained.

"Yes but… The good Baron can help with keeping him in line?" The Friar suggested.

"Just because he listens to me, does not mean I can always keep him in line" The Baron answered.

"Dear Lady, do you have anything to say on the topic….?" Nicholas asked, as he looked at the Grey Lady just looking down on the floor. She lifted her head up to see all of them looking at her. When she looked at the Baron's eyes, she looked away with a disgust.

"None…." She stated. Everyone looked at her confused but shrugged, knowing they can't get anything out of her at this point.

"Alright then, it is settled, for the last time… Peeves is not allowed in the feast, Friar… I'm sorry" Nicholas proclaimed. The Baron nodded in agreement, while the friar looked down sadly and nodded. The Lady nodded quietly.

"Good, meeting adjourned" Nicholas said. The first one to leave was the Grey lady, as she quickly phased through the wall. The friar looked at her retreating form and followed behind. Nicholas watched the two as they left but then looked at the Baron and saw him watch her leave.

"Is something the matter, Baron?" Nicholas asked. The Baron shook his head and turned to phase through a wall. Out of curiosity, Nicholas followed the Baron by phasing through the same wall and floated right next to him.

"Look, I know it is not in my position to ask…"

"Then don't ask then" The Baron quickly replied, the nearly headless ghost ignored his remark and continued

"But I need to know, why do you give the Grey lady such cold and yet intense stares, surely there must be something going on between the two of you, despite the Friar and I ever seeing any interactions between the two of you" The Baron stopped floating and nearly headless Nick floated in front and turned to face him.

"As you said before, you are in no position to ask that, Nicholas… Also, why would I tell you of my past with the Grey lady, despite being able to keep it from you and the Friar for such a long time…" the Baron asked.

"Because you need to tell someone eventually…" Nicholas answered. The Baron looked at him and gave him a chuckle.

"You were always very persistent… and only now you ask of my story?"

"For years, I've told children who would ask why your title is the Bloody Baron, that I never bother to ask you… And this is because I have respect for you… However, my curiosity has reached its limit and now I want to know as to why you are known as such" Nicholas responded.

"... Very well, my headless companion… Follow me" the Baron phased through a wall next to them, which led them to an abandoned room. Nicholas soon followed him.

"I do not want anyone knowing this story except you… Do I make myself clear… and you shall continue telling children that you never bothered to ask me, understand?" The Baron explained. Nicholas nodded and the baron just looked at him.

"Very well… What I am about to tell you may be surprising and it might change the way you see me… You may even hate me by what I am about to tell you" The Baron said.

"I could never, old friend" Nicholas said with a smiled. The Baron smirked and sighed.

"Very well… It all started when I was in my first year of Hogwarts…"

 _The school was honored to know that a baron would be staying and learning in their beloved school. The Baron was among his fellow classmates, about to be sorted into his respective house. He looked around to see a lot of students that would be ending up in different houses. As he was looking around, he stumbled upon the beautiful face of Helena Ravenclaw, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of Hogwarts founder. He was certainly stunned by her beauty at such a young age. He carefully moved through the crowd and finally made her way over to her._

" _Hello, m'lady…" The Baron said. Helena looked up at him, from her view of the floor to the Baron._

" _Hello…" Helena quietly said. The Baron found her meek voice to be quite charming and cute._

" _I don't understand why a lady such as yourself is not mingling with others…" The Baron said._

" _I should say the same about you…" Helena said_

" _Touche~"_

" _You are also entering your first year in Hogwarts?" Helena asked._

" _That I am, and I am sure you are here for the same reason?" The Baron asked_

" _Yes… But I do not understand why I have to take part in all of this… I mean I know I would end up in my mother's house…"_

" _Your mother?" The Baron asked._

" _Ravenclaw…"_

" _Your mother is one of the founders? Interesting… I must say, I agree as to why you still have to take part in this, knowing you are a Ravenclaw… But you will not know unless you try… Who knows, you might end up in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff" The Baron said. Helena giggled and looked at the table that sat her mother along with the three other founders._

" _As much as I love my Uncle Godric and Aunt Helga, I do not think I would be suited for their houses…" Helena said._

" _Or perhaps, Slytherin?" The Baron suggested. Helena looked at Salazar, who was talking with her mother._

" _I do not know… Maybe… My mother did say I am just as cunning as Uncle Salazar…" Helena said._

 _Soon, Helga Hufflepuff, went forward and called the names of the students, as they came forward to be sorted into their houses. Majority went to Slytherin and Gryffindor while some went to Ravenclaw, and a few in Hufflepuff. Once it was Helena's turn, she looked over at the Baron, who gave her a nod to show that it was alright. Helena came forward and sat under the hat, as it was placed on her head by her Aunt Helga._

" _Ah! The daughter of Ravenclaw… Just as clever and intelligent as your mother…" From the crowd of students, the Baron could see Rowena's smiling face._

" _However… You could be just as cunning as a Slytherin…" Helena just sat on the chair with her eyes closed, praying that she would end up in Ravenclaw in order for her to not disappoint her mother._

" _Yes… But you only belong in one house… and that house is perfectly clear, as clear as your last name… RAVENCLAW!" The sorting hat yelled. Helena breath out the breath that she was holding as the sorting hat thought about her house. But when she heard she would be placed in Ravenclaw, she knew she was safe. She got off the chair and turned to look at her mother with a smile. Rowena smiled back and she turned to Salazar, who nodded at her that it was okay if Helena was not in his house._

" _I knew you would be in Ravenclaw…" The Baron said, as Helena went up to him, before heading to her table._

" _I knew too… Good luck… I feel like you'd make a great Slytherin" Helena said. The Baron gave her a look of confusion._

" _How would you know that?" He asked_

" _I'm a Ravenclaw, I would know" She winked. Soon, Helga called the Baron's name, and Helena whispered a good luck to him. She went and sat in her house table and watched as the Baron sat himself, with the hat placed on his head._

" _Oh! A baron, such nobility, such power… That power can be used to gain multiple benefits… Yes, better be, SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled. The Baron looked at Helena with a smirk, and he could read her lips, telling him, "I told you so". He then went to the Slytherin table and sat himself among his fellow classmates. Once the sorting hat was over, they all started to eat their meals. The Baron and Helena could not help but look up at one another as they ate, and would look away if they caught each other's eye. They knew for certain that this school year would not be boring._

"And that is how the Baron and I first met…" The Grey lady said. Unknown to the Baron and Nicholas, the Friar and the Grey lady were also having a conversation of their own. The two were stationed on top of one of Ravenclaw towers abandoned rooms. The fat friar, after the meeting, flew up to Helena to ask why she left in such a hurry, with her response being that she did not want to be in the same room as the Baron for far too long. This then sparked the Friar's curiosity to ask why she would always ignore the Baron when they had meetings. The Grey lady of course, did not explain immediately but only said that it was a long story. The Friar, with so much time on his ghostly hands, said that he was willing to listen. Knowing about the Hufflepuff loyalty trait that he possessed. The lady led the Friar up a room in the tower in order to tell her tale first.

"Well that certainly is adorable! I did not know you and the Baron were childhood sweethearts" The Friar said. If Helena had a pulse and skin, they would be beating and turning pink by now.

"We most certainly were not! I despise him…" The Grey lady explained.

"That's not what I'm hearing… So far you are telling me that you and the Baron got along great… I do not see any reason as to hate him" the Friar said.

"It is not HIM that I hate… It is what he has done that made me hate him…" She said.

"Well then, I suggest you continue so I can get a better understanding of your hatred…" The Friar said

"... Very well then… But to be honest, I do not want you to hate him… It is not in your place to hate him for what he has done to me… I am in the position to hate him… He only did what he was told to do and just… lost it" The Lady explained. The Friar nodded in understanding.

"Very well then…" She said, as she continued.

 _After Helena's first year, she got along great with the Baron, despite him being in Slytherin, he understood her in a way other boys did not. He saw her for her brains, and not for her looks. Yes, she is fawned over by boys because she was pretty, but over the years, up until she graduated, the Baron only stayed with her for her brains and intellectual conversations. Helena appreciated this, but his appreciation was not enough. Over the years, people continued to compare her with her mother, always saying things like..._

" _Hmp! She's not nearly as beautiful and intelligent as her mother…"_

" _I do not understand why she was placed in Ravenclaw, just because her last name is…."_

 _The insults went on and on. She was always being compared to by her mother and she did not want to feel like second best. Over the years, her personality started to shift, from the intellectual cheery girl that the Baron knew from when he was in his first to fourth year, to the cold and silent lady he saw in his fifth to seventh year. He knew that this change was caused by the admiration people kept giving lady Rowena, in comparison to her own daughter. Rowena however was blind to the fact that her daughter felt this way and she continues to ignore it through work and classes._

 _By the end of their schooling year at Hogwarts, Helena continued to stay in Hogwarts in order to assist her mother and the founders with their work in school, while the Baron returned home to continue his duties as a Baron. Despite not being able to see Helena, the Baron would think of her all the time, and all he wanted was to see the beautiful and intelligent girl that he had meet in his first year. However, times were changing. With Professor Salazar gone, the school went dark. Rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin were much more intense, and the founders were not in the most jolliest of moods… Especially lady Rowena. Apparently he learned that the Ravenclaw founder was slowly getting weaker and older by the minute. After a few months from when he first left Hogwarts, he received a letter from Lady Rowena to go to her chamber. He soon apparated to the door of Rowena Ravenclaw's bedroom and gave it a knock._

" _Come in Baron…" He followed and came into her chamber, closing the door behind him. He could see Lady Rowena laying on her deathbed, in a very weak state. He went over and bowed before her._

" _You requested my presence, Lady Ravenclaw…"_

" _Yes… I have a favor to ask you" The Baron stood straight to hear her request._

" _I need you to find and bring Helena back to me…" She said. The Baron looked at her a little surprised._

" _What…? What happened to Helena?" He asked._

" _She… She ran away with my diadem… and she left a note, stating her hatred towards me… I cannot believe, as a mother I did not see the signs of hate before… Has she told you… of her hatred towards me" She asked. He looked down and nodded._

" _I see… That is why I wanted you to retrieve Helena for me… You are the only one that my daughter trust and I have seen how close you two have been from when you were both children… Please, I ask this as your professor, and the mother of a close friend… Please bring her back to me before I pass…" She said weakly. The Baron needed no more further reason to find her._

" _You have my word Lady Rowena" With that, The Baron apparated out of her chamber and began his search for Helena._

 _There are only a few places that Helena would run off too, but one place he knew of was a forest in Albania. She told him about the forest many times, and would learn that it was a beautiful place to get away from. So where better to look than there. He apparated and landed at the entrance of Albania's forest. He walked in and was soon surrounded by nature. He was not sure where to find her in the forest, but he knew she would be in it._

" _Helena! Helena! HELENA!" The baron called out_

" _Baron…" The baron turned around and was soon face to face with a hooded figure. It then revealed itself to be Helena, who was carrying the diadem in her hand. Ignoring the diadem, the baron went up to her and gave her a hug. But to his surprise, she pushed him away._

" _What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Helena asked_

" _Your mother… She is dying Helena, you need to come back to Hogwarts…" The Baron pleaded_

" _And be insulted for not being as smart as my own mother… Never! And without her precious diadem, she's nothing without its intelligence booster" She said._

" _Helena what has happened to you? You were never like this when we meet… What happened to the shy yet confident Helena that I grew up with?" The Baron asked._

" _She died...along time ago… and has been reborned into the truth…" She said._

" _Helena please… come home"_

" _No! You are only here for the diadem! I thought I could trust you Baron… But you listen to my mother instead! Why?" Helena yelled_

" _It was not just because lady Rowena requested it… I had my own personal reason as to why I chose to find you…"_

" _And what is that?"_

" _It is… It is because I love you Helena… I've always have… Ever since you said I would be placed in Slytherin… Please Helena… Come home… Come back to me…" He pleaded. Helena looked at him but glared and back up away from him._

" _You're lying… All you Slytherins are liars…" Helena said. Those comments started to spark annoyance in the Baron._

" _How could you say that?! You're not even a Slytherin, you do not know the true traits of one…" the Baron said._

" _As a matter of fact, Baron… I am…" Helena said quietly._

" _What…?"_

" _Not only are Slytherins liars… But my own mother is too… I only learned now that, my father has been my Uncle for my entire life…" Helena said, as tears began to pour down her eyes._

" _You mean…."_

" _That's right, Salazar Slytherin is my father...And they have been hiding this fact from me for a very long time , just because my mother predicted that he would leave us!" Helena yelled. The Baron heard rumors that Lady Rowena was a seer but he did not believe it._

" _And now he has left us… Left me, left my mother… That is why I learned never to trust a Slytherin… EVER!"_

" _You are wrong! We are not like that! Not all of us are!" The Baron said as he went up and grabbed Helena by her arms._

" _Let me go! You and your house are nothing but lying cheating scum bags that try to escape their problems by hiding it from others! And your love for me is nothing but a bunch of lies!" Helena kept on thrashing and yelling out, insult after insult. And once the Baron reached his breaking point, he grabbed his family dagger and stabbed Helena in the heart, in order to shut her up, blinded by rage over her words, the baron continued to stab her out of anger, which made some of her blood stain his clothing. Unaware of his actions, the Baron gasped and backed away from Helena, who was slowly losing her life, as she fell to the ground._

" _Oh my god… Oh my god! HELENA!" The baron yelled out. He quickly pulled out the dagger, but was now met with the bleeding body of his would have been lover. He held her body close to him, which made more of the blood stain his clothes._

" _B-b-b-baron…" Helena whispered he last breath. Soon, her eyes slowly started to close and her arm, as well as the rest of her body went limp. The Baron released his grip on her and laid her body to the ground. His eyes were now watering in tears for the crime he has committed. Murder._

" _Helena… I did not mean to end it this way… Oh god, what have I done… I have betrayed lady Rowena, I have killed Helena… How many more sins must I commit to not be damned…" He said to himself. The Baron then looked across Helena's body and saw the very dagger he used to kill her with._

" _I do not deserve to roam this earth freely, knowing I have committed the crime of murder upon an innocent…" With that, the Baron positioned the dagger to his heart and, out of guilt, jabbed it right through his heart, the same place where he stabbed Helena the first time. With that, his body fell to the ground next to Helena's, with his hand landing right on top of hers._

"And that's it… That is how I got my title, that is why the Grey Lady despises me, and that is why I am here now" The Baron said, as he ended his story. Stunned and surprised was written all over Sir Nicholas' face, as he listened intently to his story, making sure he did not miss any detail. After hearing this, he has a newfound point of view of the Baron.

"... I know I should hate you…" The Baron looked down disappointed as he said that.

"But you were never malicious to begin with… Your intentions with the Lady were pure and right… But it was executed wrongly… I'm truly sorry you had to go through all of that, my friend" Nicholas said, as he floated over to him and patted his back without phasing it.

"Yes… that is why I wear these chains for penance of my crime… The more I think about it or the more I see her, the heavier they get…"

"Then may I offer some ghostly advice… Learn to forgive yourself before you go to the Grey Lady and ask for forgiveness… Because she will know whether you have accepted this and have suffered enough to let you go…" Sir Nicholas said. The Baron looked at him and then at his chains.

"I do not think it is that easy…" He said.

"You never know unless you try my friend…" Nicholas said. Soon the two ghost phased out of the room and into the hallways where they start to see some students walking by.

"And to think, we were just like them at their age" Nicholas said. The Baron watched the students, as they walked the halls and talked to their friends.

"Yes but, at least they know murder is not the answer…" He said.

"Who knows… Maybe it could happen to them, maybe it couldn't… History does sometimes, repeat itself" Nicholas said. Soon the two ghost reached an intersection of the castle. Nearly headless Nick turned to him with a smile.

"Well I must go now, I promised to help Professor Binns with a lecture today" Nicholas explained

"Pretty rare for him to ask help from other ghost…"

"Yes well, his lecture today is on ghost, and he needed another ghost to help explain how we live… Maybe you should tell your story" Nicholas winked. The Baron gave a glare and Nick just chuckled nervously and floated away.

"Of course, of course, keeping this a secret. Well! I will see you soon, old friend" With that, he phased through a wall and left him.

"I doubt he can keep a secret…" He said to himself, or so he thought.

"You'd be surprised on how much he can tell a person…" Knowing that voice, the chains on him got heavier, but he used as much strength as he can to left them and face her.

"Hello m'lady… Is there something you need of me?" He asked. Helena kept quiet and floated up close to him. He was surprised at her advancement and was about to float backwards away, when he suddenly felt her hands on his chains.

"W-w-what are you doing?" He asked her

"How long have these been on you?" She asked.

"Ever since that day…" He answered. She looked at the chains again and stroked them gently.

"The friar told me that I need to learn to forgive and forget… Especially to myself…" He looked at her and was surprised to hear that the friar told her the same thing Nick told him.

"I need to forgive my hatred for my mother, and for stealing her diadem… Mostly importantly, I need to learn to forgive you for doing this to me…" She said. He looked away from her but she brought a ghostly hand to his cheek and raised his face to look at her.

"Now… It will take me a while to forgive… But I hope you are willing to wait…" She said. The Baron looked into her ghostly eyes and leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips, just enough not to phase through her.

"I've been with you for thousands of years… I am willing to wait for a thousand more for your forgiveness" He said. Helena smiled at him and leaned in to give a kiss of her own. A kiss that has been long overdue.

* * *

 **Me:** You didn't think I would write this without having a little Rowena and Salazar moment where Helena says he is her father, did you? Slytherclaw for life! But anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you all have a pleasant day!


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